Written Answers Monday 5 June 2006

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what average time was taken for (a) Stage 1 and (b) Stage 2 of the EU agricultural subsidies appeals procedure in each year since its introduction, broken down by area covered by each SEERAD area office.

Ross Finnie: The EU Agricultural Subsidies Appeals Procedure became operational in November 2000. The information requested is set out as follows and shows the average days from submission to final decision by year of hearing. There was a large volume of appeals received in 2002 and 2003 (and again in 2005) which resulted in a backlog building up. The cumulative effect of this resulted in us taking longer to process cases than we would have liked.

  I would however expect the average resolution time to decrease noticeably in the medium to longer term as the number of appeals against decisions in the 8 subsidy schemes which were replaced by the Single Farm Payment Scheme decline.

  Average number of days for an appeal to be heard from submission to decision.

  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2001
Ayr
115
69


 
Benbecula
111
120


Dumfries
203
 


Elgin
81
 


Galashiels
279
90


Hamilton
78
124


Inverness
105
36


Inverurie
164
195


Kirkwall
86
 


Lairg
 
 


Lerwick
70
87


Oban
99
79


Perth
121
64


Portree
 
 


Stornoway
80
 


Thurso
 
 



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2002
Ayr
158
276


 
Benbecula
286
 


Dumfries
161
436


Elgin
182
88


Galashiels
139
75


Hamilton
116
110


Inverness
168
108


Inverurie
147
95


Kirkwall
164
101


Lairg
208
 


Lerwick
149
76


Oban
201
 


Perth
153
76


Portree
235
 


Stornoway
 
 


Thurso
117
 



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2003
Ayr
292
170


 
Benbecula
303
 


Dumfries
283
160


Elgin
301
257


Galashiels
290
120


Hamilton
268
204


Inverness
273
246


Inverurie
296
118


Kirkwall
320
153


Lairg
288
 


Lerwick
303
 


Oban
299
221


Perth
276
242


Portree
261
160


Stornoway
383
 


Thurso
249
225



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2004
Ayr
216
 


 
Benbecula
225
 


Dumfries
233
 


Elgin
 
 


Galashiels
239
176


Hamilton
207
165


Inverness
241
228


Inverurie
257
316


Kirkwall
246
345


Lairg
301
 


Lerwick
223
 


Oban
213
296


Perth
243
173


Portree
220
 


Stornoway
 
 


Thurso
227
 



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2005
Ayr
178
262


 
Benbecula
181
 


Dumfries
158
 


Elgin
221
 


Galashiels
149
254


Hamilton
173
271


Inverness
160
 


Inverurie
158
247


Kirkwall
159
306


Lairg
276
 


Lerwick
190
131


Oban
223
 


Perth
155
 


Portree
100
 


Stornoway
112
 


Thurso
126

Agriculture

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many appeals by farmers and crofters under the EU agricultural subsidies appeals procedure are currently being processed, broken down by area covered by each SEERAD area office.

Ross Finnie: The EU Agricultural Subsidies Appeals procedure became operational in November 2000. The information requested is set out as follows and shows the number of cases which are in the process. The figures include all outstanding Stage 1 and Stage 2 appeals. A further four cases are awaiting a Stage 3 Scottish Land Court hearing.

  

Area Office
No. of Appeals


Ayr
33


Benbecula
3


Dumfries
26


Elgin
7


Galashiels
23


Hamilton
14


Inverness
16


Inverurie
58


Kirkwall
5


Lairg
5


Lerwick
6


Oban
7


Perth
29


Portree
1


Stornoway
2


Thurso
11


Totals
246

Agriculture

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many appeals have been submitted by farmers and crofters under the EU agricultural subsidies appeals procedure in each full year since its introduction, broken down by area covered by each SEERAD area office.

Ross Finnie: The EU Agricultural Subsidies Appeals procedure became operational in November 2000. The information requested is set out as follows by year of submission.

  

Year Submitted
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3


2000
Ayr
3
1
 


 
Benbecula
0
 
 


Dumfries
2
 
 


Elgin
0
 
 


Galashiels
0
 
 


Hamilton
0
 
 


Inverness
2
1
 


Inverurie
3
1
 


Kirkwall
0
 
 


Lairg
0
 
 


Lerwick
0
 
 


Oban
1
1
 


Perth
4
1
 


Portree
0
 
 


Stornoway
0
 
 


Thurso
1
 
 


Totals
16
5
 



  

Year Submitted
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3


2001
Ayr
7
2
 


 
Benbecula
5
1
 


Dumfries
3
 
 


Elgin
2
 
 


Galashiels
5
1
 


Hamilton
3
1
 


Inverness
14
1
 


Inverurie
20
4
 


Kirkwall
4
 
 


Lairg
0
 
 


Lerwick
3
1
 


Oban
3
1
 


Perth
9
1
 


Portree
1
 
 


Stornoway
5
 
 


Thurso
0
 
 


Totals
84
13
 



  

Year Submitted
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2002
Ayr
28
3


 
Benbecula
1
 


Dumfries
25
3


Elgin
13
4


Galashiels
20
2


Hamilton
24
2


Inverness
22
2


Inverurie
48
5


Kirkwall
23
2


Lairg
2
 


Lerwick
5
1


Oban
9
1


Perth
41
6


Portree
2
 


Stornoway
0
 


Thurso
9
 


Totals
272
31



  

Year Submitted
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3


2003
Ayr
18
3
 


 
Benbecula
1
 
 


Dumfries
35
8
 


Elgin
5
2
 


Galashiels
24
7
 


Hamilton
16
5
1


Inverness
22
3
 


Inverurie
42
4
1


Kirkwall
4
1
 


Lairg
2
 
 


Lerwick
9
 
 


Oban
9
4
 


Perth
47
8
1


Portree
2
1
 


Stornoway
3
 
 


Thurso
15
1
 


Totals
254
47
3



  

Year Submitted
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3


2004
Ayr
7
2
 


 
Benbecula
6
 
 


Dumfries
15
 
 


Elgin
0
 
 


Galashiels
13
1
1


Hamilton
10
1
 


Inverness
9
3
 


Inverurie
8
4
1


Kirkwall
2
1
 


Lairg
4
1
 


Lerwick
4
1
 


Oban
2
1
 


Perth
11
5
 


Portree
2
 
 


Stornoway
1
 
 


Thurso
6
1
 


Totals
100
21
2



  

Year Submitted
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3


2005
Ayr
89
9
 


 
Benbecula
16
 
 


Dumfries
67
4
2


Elgin
13
2
 


Galashiels
64
10
1


Hamilton
37
3
 


Inverness
35
3
2


Inverurie
124
12
 


Kirkwall
25
5
 


Lairg
15
1
 


Lerwick
13
4
 


Oban
13
1
 


Perth
69
8
1


Portree
8
 
 


Stornoway
10
 
 


Thurso
23
3
 


Totals
621
65
6

Agriculture

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of appeals by farmers and crofters under the EU agricultural subsidies appeals procedures found in favour of the applicant in each year since the introduction of the procedure, broken down by area covered by each SEERAD area office.

Ross Finnie: The EU Agricultural Subsidies Appeals procedure became operational in November 2000. The information requested is set out as follows by year of decision. In addition to cases where the panel upheld the appeal it includes cases where the appeal was resolved in favour of the producer prior to the panel review.

  Two further appeals from Galashiels and Elgin were upheld this year by the Scottish Land Court at Stage 3.

  % of Upheld Appeals

  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2001
Ayr
14%
100%


 
Benbecula
20%
0%


Dumfries
0%
 


Elgin
50%
 


Galashiels
20%
0%


Hamilton
0%
0%


Inverness
35%
0%


Inverurie
30%
0%


Kirkwall
50%
 


Lairg
 
 


Lerwick
33%
0%


Oban
33%
0%


Perth
11%
0%


Portree
100%
 


Stornoway
0%
 


Thurso
 
 


Average % of Totals
25%
11%



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2002
Ayr
64%
66%


 
Benbecula
0%
 


Dumfries
56%
33%


Elgin
30%
50%


Galashiels
60%
50%


Hamilton
58%
0%


Inverness
40%
0%


Inverurie
52%
0%


Kirkwall
30%
50%


Lairg
0%
 


Lerwick
60%
100%


Oban
44%
0%


Perth
46%
0%


Portree
0%
 


Stornoway
 
 


Thurso
44%
 


Average % of Totals
39%
32%



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2003
Ayr
33%
0%


 
Benbecula
0%
 


Dumfries
25%
37%


Elgin
20%
0%


Galashiels
41%
14%


Hamilton
6%
0%


Inverness
22%
0%


Inverurie
30%
0%


Kirkwall
50%
0%


Lairg
100%
 


Lerwick
11%
 


Oban
33%
0%


Perth
36%
0%


Portree
0%
0%


Stornoway
33%
 


Thurso
20%
0%


Average % of Totals
29%
4%



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2004
Ayr
42%
0%


 
Benbecula
33%
 


Dumfries
33%
 


Elgin
 
 


Galashiels
7%
0%


Hamilton
40%
0%


Inverness
22%
33%


Inverurie
37%
0%


Kirkwall
0%
0%


Lairg
0%
0%


Lerwick
0%
0%


Oban
5%
0%


Perth
9%
20%


Portree
0%
 


Stornoway
0%
 


Thurso
16%
0%


Average % of Totals
16%
5%



  

Year of Decision
Area Office
Stage 1
Stage 2


2005
Ayr
7%
0%


 
Benbecula
6%
 


Dumfries
2%
0%


Elgin
7%
0%


Galashiels
4%
0%


Hamilton
8%
0%


Inverness
14%
0%


Inverurie
6%
0%


Kirkwall
0%
0%


Lairg
13%
0%


Lerwick
7%
0%


Oban
15%
0%


Perth
2%
0%


Portree
12%
 


Stornoway
20%
 


Thurso
8%
0%


Average % of Totals
8%
0%

Dentistry

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what costs students are required to pay at each dental facility other than the two dental schools.

Lewis Macdonald: Training undertaken by dental students at outreach centres will be part of their university education, and so no additional fees will require to be paid.

Dentistry

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many dental teachers have been recruited to each dental school since August 2005.

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the full-time equivalent number of teaching staff has been in each dental school in each of the last five years.

Lewis Macdonald: This information is not held centrally. It is the responsibility of the universities to ensure that the dental schools are appropriately staffed.

Dentistry

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how the two dental schools will provide adequate teaching staff supervision of students at facilities outwith the schools.

Lewis Macdonald: The NHS staff supervising dental outreach students will require to undergo appropriate induction and training. In addition IT links will be established with the universities to give these students access to distance learning facilities.

Dentistry

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether dental students in outreach dental facilities will be supervised only by trained dental teachers.

Lewis Macdonald: Students working in dental outreach facilities will be supervised by appropriately trained and qualified NHS staff.

Discrimination

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Her Majesty’s Government has sought any input from it in respect of International Day against Homophobia.

Malcolm Chisholm: The UK Government has not sought input from the Scottish Executive in respect of the International Day against Homophobia (IDAHO). IDAHO was welcomed by Meg Munn, Deputy Minister for Women and Equality, who issued a statement of support.

  The Executive is committed to tackling homophobic prejudice and discrimination and we are establishing a Forum to help us address negative attitudes to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Scotland.

  As an employer, the Executive marked the day by issuing a notice to all staff, highlighting its significance and providing a link to the IDAHO website for further information.

Education

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of computers in schools were at least five years old in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally.

  Percentage of Computers Older than Four Years, by School Sector

  

 
Pre-School
Primary
Secondary
Special


1999-2000
41%
45%
45%
42%


2000-01
28%
35%
32%
41%


2001-02
N/A
23%
25%
36%



  Until 2002, a Survey of Information and Communication Technology in Schools, sampled publicly funded schools across Scotland. The figures are derived from this sample survey. These results are not representative at a local authority level.

Education

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools require high-priority maintenance or major work, broken down by local authority area.

Peter Peacock: The overall management of their school estate is a matter for individual education authorities. The Scottish Executive does not collect detailed information about their assessments of school building maintenance requirements or the relative priority of such work for individual schools.

Fisheries

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many sales notes in respect of direct sale fish have been submitted under the Registration of Fish Sellers and Buyers and Designation of Auction Sites (Scotland) Regulations 2005 since the regulations came into force and, of these, what percentage related to landings from under-10-metre vessels.

Ross Finnie: As at 2 June 2006 there were 29,011 Buyers Sales Notes entered onto the fisheries data base, 32 per cent of which relate to landings from under-10-metre vessels.

Fisheries

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of Scottish fish quota stocks it estimates were landed by under-10-metre vessels in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005.

Ross Finnie: Quota stocks are allocated to UK Producer organisations on an annual basis, whereas the under-10-metre vessels which are not in Producer Organisations are set monthly catch limits by the Fisheries Administrations. Monitoring of quota stocks and setting of under-10-metre monthly limits is done at a UK level and no distinction is made between under-10-metre vessels based in Scotland and those based elsewhere in the UK.

  In 2004 and 2005 under-10-metre vessels not in Producer Organisations accounted for the following percentages of landings of the following1 quota stocks.

  

Quota Stock
2004
2005


West Coast Nephrops
13.42%
12.82%


North Sea Nephrops
5.08%
5.72%


North Sea Cod
2.72%
1.23%


North Sea Haddock
0.14%
0.22%



  Note: 1. Under-10-metre in Scotland mostly fish for Nephrops or for non-quota stocks such as crabs, lobsters and scallops. The quota stocks shown above are the main ones in which the Scottish under-10-metre fleet have an interest. The main whitefish stocks are targeted by larger offshore vessels and the very large pelagic stocks e.g. mackerel, herring and blue whiting are targeted almost exclusively by a small number of very large vessels.

Fisheries

Mr Jim Wallace (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many fish landings were made in Scotland by under-10-metre vessels in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005.

Ross Finnie: The exact information requested is not available as under-10-metre vessels do not have to complete a log sheet for each voyage and often submit a composite landings record covering several voyages.

  The available information held on the fisheries data base can identify the number of arrivals at port made by under-10-metre vessels, but each arrival may not necessarily constitute a landing, as catches (particularly crabs and lobsters) are often stored at sea, and catches from several voyages may be landed together.

  The available information is given as follows for under-10-metre vessels.

  

2004
2005 (provisional)


47,280 arrivals
38,433 arrivals


19,073 landings records
18,316 landings records

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many live, single, full-term babies with a birth weight of under 2.5 kg have been born in each (a) NHS board area and (b) parliamentary constituency, broken down by (i) social class and (ii) home address postcode in each year since 2000.

Lewis Macdonald: The latest information by (a) health board of residence and (b) parliamentary constituency broken down by the Social Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39706).

  The Scottish Executive is unable to provide a breakdown by home address postcode due to the risk of disclosure.

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25841 by Lewis Macdonald on 23 May 2006, what involvement the local police have in determining the community assessment of a patient transferring to less secure accommodation and in providing assistance to multidisciplinary teams at case conferences.

Lewis Macdonald: Clinical staff will involve the police in multidisciplinary care programme approach meetings where that is appropriate. New guidance on the care programme approach, including how the police should be engaged in that process, is being developed to reflect the provisions of the Management of Offenders etc. (Scotland) Act 2003. That guidance is being developed in conjunction with the police and others and will be published later this year. The police are always represented at care programme approach meetings in respect of sex offenders.

Health

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive who has responsibility for monitoring adverse reactions to drugs and vaccines.

Lewis Macdonald: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the Commission on Human Medicines run the UK’s adverse drug (including vaccines) reaction reporting scheme, the Yellow Card Scheme.

  Guidance on the reporting of suspected adverse drug reactions is available at:

  www.yellowcard.gov.uk.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provides to well-man clinics in Glasgow, broken down by clinic.

Mr Andy Kerr: Funding for well-man clinics across Scotland was provided by the Executive during 2004-05 and 2005-06. NHS Greater Glasgow was included in this pilot programme.

  NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will use the experience gained from the well-man pilots to build on and engage with men at risk of ill-health in their area, with particular focus on Prevention 2010 areas.

Health

Shona Robison (Dundee East) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding changes are proposed for any well-man clinics in Glasgow.

Mr Andy Kerr: This is a matter for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26356 on 5 June 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Justice

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes highlighting the dangers of carrying knives are on-going in schools.

Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive’s publication Safe & Well, which covers child protection in education, and was sent to all authorities, recommends that schools should consider, as part of personal safety education, how pupils can be encouraged to develop safe and responsible attitudes to carrying weapons, and to report those carrying weapons.

  In addition, as part of the Safer Scotland Anti-Violence Campaign running for a year from 1 April 2006, the Violence Reduction Unit are delivering targeted education on knife crime prevention.

Justice

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged between 8 and 16 had (a) DNA and (b) fingerprint samples centrally recorded and stored for non-health related reasons in each year since 1999.

Cathy Jamieson: It is not possible to extract this information from either the fingerprint or DNA databases.

  The police have powers under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to take fingerprints and DNA samples from people arrested or detained for a recordable offence, including young people between the ages of eight and 16. For people between these ages samples are only retained if they are convicted by a court. As the whole record is deleted it is not possible to indicate how many samples were retained and for how long.

Justice

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged between 8 and 16 had fingerprints taken by police forces in each year since 1999, broken down by police force.

Cathy Jamieson: This information is not held centrally. Under the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 the police are allowed, but not required, to take fingerprints from eight to 16-year-olds who have been arrested or detained. These prints must be destroyed if the young person is not subsequently convicted.

  There are no central records to indicate the number of prints taken each year.

Justice

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding it will provide to local authorities which have to deal with large numbers of marches.

Cathy Jamieson: We have been working very positively with local government representatives, march organisers and the police on all aspects of marching and parading. Changes being made in the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill 2006 will modernise the way in which local authorities deal with marches and parades to ensure the communities they serve are better informed about these events. Much of this new guidance is simply good practice and should therefore not present any additional burden to local authorities. We will continue to discuss with COSLA whether additional funding will be required.

Maternity Services

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average level of occupancy has been in each neonatal unit in each year since 1997.

Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is given in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39729).

NHS Expenditure

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is centralised procurement in respect of the purchase or provision of printing services for the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: A national contract for the provision of Print Services to NHSScotland was awarded on 7 December 2004 and commenced on 1 February 2005. The contract is a framework agreement and will run for three years with a possible extension of one year.

  This contract allows NHS boards and Special Health Boards to procure print services against pre-agreed contractual pricing and terms and conditions with awarded suppliers.

NHS Expenditure

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions there have been with printing companies regarding contracting printing services for the NHS.

Mr Andy Kerr: Prior to the award of a national contract, NHSScotland, in accordance with the requirements of European Public Procurement Legislation designed to ensure fair and open competition for any contracts awarded, published a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), requesting suppliers to note their interest, for the provision of print services.

  A total of 93 companies responded to the notice and all were asked to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire to demonstrate that they were capable of providing the required services to NHSScotland. Of the 41 companies who completed and returned the pre-qualification questionnaire only 27 met the minimum qualification requirements to be included in the Tender List.

  All bids received underwent a rigorous evaluation process and supplier site visits were also undertaken to allow evidence to be gathered as to the suppliers’ capacity and capability to meet the requirements of the contract.

  In total 10 suppliers were awarded contracts.

NHS Expenditure

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place for the purchase of printing services by NHS boards.

Mr Andy Kerr: The services suppliers provide under the national Print Services contract for NHS boards and Special Health Boards are:

  (a) delivery to a central receiving point (or to desk top if required) against purchase orders, or

  (b) bulk deliveries to a central storage area for breakdown and onward shipment to customers on demand.

  The print products contained within the scope of the contract include medical records, national forms, publications, pads, letterheads, case-note folders, labels and cheques and includes all tooling, stitching, drilling operational requirements etc.

  Heads of Procurement in each NHS board and Special Health Board were issued with a buyer’s guide for purchasing print services. The guide advises boards that as this contract is a no opt-out framework agreement, all boards are expected to migrate their print requirements to their chosen vendor(s) within the agreement as existing contracts come to an end.

NHS Expenditure

Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what expenditure was incurred by each NHS board on printing services in the last two financial years and what budgetary allocations have been made for 2006-07 for this purpose.

Mr Andy Kerr: Total NHSScotland expenditure on print services for 2003-04 and 2004-05 was £6 million and £5.7 million respectively. Total spend for 2005-06 is currently not available centrally.

  No specific allocation is made to NHS boards for expenditure on print services. Each NHS board is given an annual allocation of funds to meet the health care needs of its resident population.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is to date of the work carried out by it and Scottish Natural Heritage on the coastal and marine national park, including the cost of recent advice to ministers and the process of consultation with stakeholders.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive does not hold information on the costs of work carried out by it on coastal and marine national parks.

  Enquiries relating to the costs of Scottish Natural Heritage’s work on coastal and marine national parks should be directed to Scottish Natural Heritage.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, before any coastal and marine national park is established, there will be a referendum seeking the approval of those who are on the electoral roll in the area covered by the proposed park.

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it would establish a coastal and marine national park in circumstances where the majority of the people in a referendum, who are qualified to vote by being on the electoral register on the areas within the boundaries of the proposed park, rejected the proposal.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive has no current plans to hold a referendum on Coastal and Marine National Parks but the public and other interested stakeholders will have an opportunity to submit views during the consultation on this topic that will take place during the summer.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any coastal and marine national park could prevent tankers from using the Minch.

Ross Finnie: The location of Scotland’s first Coastal and Marine National Park has not yet been decided and will be one of a number of issues on which the Executive will seek the views of the public through a consultation exercise during the summer.

  Rights of navigation under international law are a matter for Her Majesty’s Government.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the annual cost of running a coastal and marine national park for the first three years of operation.

Ross Finnie: Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH) advice stated that it is difficult to quantify the likely running costs of a Coastal and Marine National Park as this will depend on the area chosen, the specific powers and functions of the park authority and its governance arrangements. I have made clear that no decisions have been taken on the area or in relation to powers and functions of the park authority. Views on these issues will be sought in the Executive’s consultation during the summer.

  Section 3 of SNH’s advice covering running costs can be viewed at:

  http://www.snh.org.uk/strategy/CMNP/sr-adnp01.asp.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any advice from Scottish Natural Heritage in relation to the meeting which took place, and the content of the discussions at the meeting, on 4 May 2006 at the Astley Hall, Arisaig and whether it will place copies of all such advice and documents in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive received by email a report from SNH on the local meeting that was held at Arisaig on 4 May 2006 on Coastal and Marine National Parks. The documents have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39771).

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the issue of a coastal and marine national park has been discussed in its Cabinet and, if so, on what date or dates.

Ross Finnie: Cabinet regularly discusses issues related to the marine and coastal environment and our Partnership Agreement commitments. However, Scottish ministers operate on the basis of collective responsibility and do not disclose details of private deliberations.

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there would be zoning of the seas within the area of a coastal and marine national park; if so, what the effect of such zoning would be; whether it has received advice from Scottish Natural Heritage on zoning and, if so, whether it will publish in full, without redaction, copies of all such advice.

Ross Finnie: It is too soon to take a view on whether or not zoning should be pursued within Scotland’s first Coastal and Marine National Park. No decisions have yet been taken on the role and functions of the Park authority that would be established or the location of the park. The Scottish Executive will be consulting on these and other issues in the summer.

  The advice received from SNH is available on their website and we are considering that at present.

  http://www.snh.org.uk/strategy/CMNP/sr-adnp01.asp

National Parks

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the advice it has received from Scottish Natural Heritage on the impact which any coastal and marine national park may have on the fishing industry recognises that the park plan would take precedence in the event of any conflict with local fisheries management.

Ross Finnie: Section 3 of SNH’s report outlined its advice on powers and structures of a Coastal and Marine National Park and supported the view that inshore fisheries groups should continue to be the main vehicle for the planning and management of fisheries within the park area. I have made clear that I want to see a park authority working with inshore fisheries management groups.

Nurses

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many student nurses sought maternity leave in each of the last three years.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

Nurses

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates that the new maternity leave arrangements for student nurses will cost.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Nursing and Midwifery Student Bursary scheme in Scotland now includes an arrangement which allows bursary payments to be continued where nursing and midwifery students have to withdraw from their course due to circumstances such as caring duties, ill health or illness or other issues arising from pregnancy. The amount of support that a student receives depends on the individual’s circumstances and the length of time they are absent from the course. For example, a student who is absent for a period of six months would receive around £3,000. In addition, the Scottish Executive meets the annual teaching costs of nursing and midwifery students enrolled on pre-registration programmes, currently averaging £5,600 per student.

Nurses

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much it estimates that it would cost to implement a maternity leave scheme for student nurses identical to that in England.

Mr Andy Kerr: Under the arrangements available to nursing and midwifery students in England, students can receive up to 45 weeks additional support when they withdraw from their course because of pregnancy and childbirth. At current rates, if a similar allowance were to be introduced in Scotland, students under 26 might receive up to £5,000 and students over 26 £5,700 during the period they were absent from their course. In addition, the Scottish Executive meets the annual teaching costs of nursing and midwifery students enrolled on pre-registration programmes, currently averaging £5,600 per student.

Police

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of policing the visit of Bill Clinton to Scotland in May 2006 and who is meeting those costs.

Cathy Jamieson: Information on the cost of policing this visit is not held centrally and is a matter for Strathclyde Police.

Public Sector Expenditure

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its departments and agencies have (a) overspent or (b) underspent their budgets in each year since 1999, broken down by department, agency and amount of overspend or underspend.

Mr Tom McCabe: The following table sets out the Scottish Executive’s and its External Bodies’ outturn variance against budget for the period from 1999-2000 to 2004-05:

  

Department
Under/Overspend (£ Million)1


1999-2000
2000-01
2001-02
2002-03
2003-04
2004-052


Justice
-56
-52
-47
-50
-27
-27


Education
-2
-92
-10
-30
-24
-14


Health
-135
-144
-124
-24
-26
-97


Enterprise (Transport) and Lifelong Learning3
-87
-154
-57
-72
-111
-91


Development4
-109
-38
-150
-25
-65
-39


Environment and Rural Affairs5
-13
-67
-123
-61
-298
-63


Finance and Central Services
n/a
-70
-66
-99
-49
-27


Administration and Associated Departments6
-16
-28
-22
-15
-18
-8


Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
-4
-2
0
-1
-2
-2


Forestry Commission (Scotland)
6
2
-2
-2
-3
-12


Food Standards Agency
0
-2
0
-1
0
-2


Contingency Fund
0
-22
-42
-14
0
0


Total
-416
-669
-643
-394
-623
-382



  Notes:

  1. Underspends appear as negative figures and overspends as positive figures and are based on variances against Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL).

  2. While the 2004-05 figures are shown in the table above as DEL variances for comparative purposes, the reported position for 2004-05 reflected a request by the Finance Committee that variances should be reported against the Spring Budget Revision (including AME and ODEL expenditure). The reported figure for 2004-05 on the new basis was £281 million and future variances will continue to be reported in this way.

  3. Transport moved from Development Department into Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department in 2003-04.

  4. Local Government and European Structural Funds sat within Development Department in 1999-2000. Local Government and European Structural Funds then moved to Finance and Central Services Department in 2000-01. And finally in 2003-04 European Structural Funds moved to Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department.

  5. The largest part of the 2001-02 and 2003-04 ERAD underspends were attributable to Scottish Water.

  6. Associated Departments includes General Registers Office for Scotland and National Archives of Scotland.

Recycling

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, when considering funding for community recycling projects, it takes into account the social and health benefits delivered by community organisations through the employment of vulnerable people.

Ross Finnie: The main purpose of the Strategic Waste Fund is to provide resources to meet the targets in the National Waste Plan on waste prevention, recycling and diverting waste from landfill. Resources provided to local authorities through the Strategic Waste Fund are, therefore, closely related to National Waste Plan objectives. Nevertheless, we expect local authorities when they are considering whether to use the services of community sector groups to take account of all the potential benefits which such groups can provide.

  The Scottish Executive recognises that bodies applying to INCREASE, our grant scheme for the community recycling sector, have objectives beyond waste. Therefore, the assessment criteria for INCREASE indicates that the assessment of applications will take account of the "benefits of the Project both in terms of tonnes diverted from landfill and other non-waste benefits such as social inclusion, rehabilitation, employment of disadvantaged people, and redistribution of goods to the local community". The assessment criteria for INCREASE can be found at:

  www.increase-programme.org.uk.

Scottish Criminal Record Office

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been responsible for Unison’s legal expenses in any civil action related to the Shirley McKie case and, if so, over what period it was responsible, what legal action was involved, why it undertook to pay the expenses and what the cost to the Executive was of such support.

Cathy Jamieson: For the purposes of the civil case related to Shirley McKie, in June 2002 Scottish ministers accepted legal responsibility for the action of the officers at the Scottish Criminal Record Office named in the proceedings. The cases against those officers and the Strathclyde Joint Police Board were subsequently dismissed.

  Having accepted legal responsibility for the actions of the individual officers in this case, the Scottish ministers agreed to pay the expenses the officers had incurred in defending the action to that point.

  The sum of £5,400 was paid to the Unison solicitors who had been representing the officers.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of its events at which entertainment was provided in each year from 1999, broken down into (a) food, (b) drink, (c) staffing and (d) other costs; what the purpose has been of each such event, and who attended.

Mr Tom McCabe: This information is not held centrally. Guidelines are provided for Scottish Executive staff considering official hospitality and all such expenditure must be approved by a manager of appropriate seniority.

Scottish Executive Expenditure

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each of its departments has spent on opinion polls in each year since 1999 and whether the findings of each poll will be published.

Mr Tom McCabe: "Opinion polling" has no formal definition, but the term is most often used in the context of asking about political opinions. The Scottish Executive does not carry out polling of this kind.

  The Executive has, however, developed a number of mechanisms to measure and track broader non-political public perceptions and attitudes. This work informs policy development and evaluation across a wide range of policy areas.

  As an example I refer the member to the answer to question S2W- 26048 on 1 June 2006, which provides details of a range of surveys that are used to measure both levels of satisfaction with public services and perceptions of standards.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Sexual Health

Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide further post-graduate education for health care professionals to offer better guidance and training in the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives and their relative cost-effectiveness compared with other methods.

Mr Andy Kerr: One of the actions in Respect and Responsibility which is being taken forward by a sub group of the National Sexual Health Advisory Committee (NSHAC) is to work with professional bodies, regulatory institutions and statutory and voluntary training providers of non-health care professionals, to ensure under-graduate, post-graduate and on-going Continuing Professional Development programmes provide staff with the range of skills and knowledge to respond to the sexual health and well-being agenda.

  The sub group will review training programmes provided by a wide range of statutory and voluntary agencies and will link with the Scottish Executive Health Department, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS Health Scotland regarding under-graduate and post-graduate education. The group will identify gaps and make recommendations for a quality assured National Training Strategy for Scotland. We expect initial recommendations of the sub-group will be presented to the NSHAC in October 2006.

Water Charges

Mr Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list its water charges exemption schemes, indicating when each exemption (a) came into effect and (b) expires and to which categories of people each exemption applies.

Rhona Brankin: The Water and Sewerage Charges Exemption Scheme was established by the Water and Sewerage Charges (Exemption) (Scotland) Regulations 2002. The scheme first took effect on 1 April 2002 and expires on 31 March 2010. It is the only exemption scheme for water services charges. The criteria for qualifying for exemption under the scheme are set out in the regulations.

Young Offenders

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many secure units there are and where they are located.

Cathy Jamieson: The are currently five secure units consisting of 90 places and are located as follows:

  St Mary’s Kenmure – Glasgow – 31 places

  St Philip’s – Airdrie – 18 places

  Rossie – Montrose – 25 places

  Howdenhall/St Katharine’s – Edinburgh – 12 places

  The Elms – Dundee – four places.

Young Offenders

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be of the loss of secure unit places at Kerelaw.

Cathy Jamieson: The redevelopment of the secure estate will mean an increase in secure unit places to 125. Kerelaw had agreed to provide 12 places in the redeveloped estate but announced their intention to withdraw from the redevelopment scheme in October 2004. The resulting difference in the number of secure places was accommodated by the building of the Good Shepherd Centre, Bishopton and St Philip’s School Airdrie. St Philip’s school opened on 6 March 2006 and the Good Shepherd is on track to open in summer 2006.

Young Offenders

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many under-16-year-olds are currently placed in young offenders institutions.

Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  As at 31 May 2006, there are no under-16-year olds placed in young offenders institutions.